Art Burshy walked today by a man cleaning the walls from graffiti.
Initially he just wanted to walk by...after all - there is so much rubbish being sprayed on the walls.
And Art knows the guy is just doing his job...cleaning walls...
But then he noticed that the man was actually removing quite a nice work of street art...
Sure the art work was not a Banksy, but would the guy actually know?
Would he really just be focused on the narrow tasks to 'clean the walls'
What if he would encounter a Banksy, would he be tempted to actually reflect on what he was doing.
Art Burshy himself also made some street art now and then.
And although he understood when the art work would be taken away, it is never a thrill.
One could even argue whether nice street art actually was a guerrilla way of making cities less dull, colourless, square and monotonous.
Shouldn't it be possible to deviate from the rule? Okay to clean walls, but a good street art work is actually nice to keep.
This is like in business:
- it is good to define rules and ensure they are respected
- but there should be consideration for the exceptional, no?
Art remembers that when he first managed his teams he actually did not pay attention to people being late that much. Well, it happens to all of us that we miss a train or have to deal with family situations.
Then some people started to complain, that some others were always late.
So, what do you do.
Sure, everybody should be on time; but should that rule be the same for all.
Is productivity not more important than presence?
From this time Art has kept 2 expressions alive.
1. I understand everything, but not everything can be tolerated in the interest of the team
You should be flexible and have people as much as possible work in a way that is optimal for them.
If you force them in another structure chances are that you reduce their productivity and contribution.
At the same time, when it stands in the wau\y of the teamwork you should not shy away from intervening.
2. Unequal monks, unequal hoods...
This is a weird one.
It comes from the old Dutch saying: 'equal monks, equal hoods' ('gelijke monniken, gelijke kappen')
It normally intends to say that all people should be treated equal.
Then one colleague (Martin) of Art once said the opposite: 'unequal monks, unequal hoods'
Initially Art had been surprised, but when he thought about it it made more and more sense.
Don't people who work very hard and late have more rights than people that just fill their hours?
If someone just worked late last night, should Art be reprimanding him if he is 10 minutes late next morning?
This does not mean that Art feels people should not be treated equally.
And the same for art works and artists.
Great art works, even when put on a wall outside should be kept, maybe even framed.
Where shitty tags or poor efforts should be punished.
Sure, Art had not yet figured out how to implement this in law or procedures, but there should be some talented politician that could solve that...
Because in the end even Art Burshy knows that a Banksy is not an ArtBurshy...
